Trump’s 200% tariff threat would be ‘real disaster’ for Europe’s wine, spirit industry

Champagne (France): Across wine country in France, Italy and Spain one number is top of mind: 200 per cent.

That’s because last week US President Donald Trump threatened a tariff of that amount on European wine, Champagne and other spirits if the European Union went ahead with retaliatory tariffs on some US products. The top wine producers in Europe could face crippling costs that would hit smaller wineries especially hard.

Europe’s wine industry is the latest to find itself in the crosshairs of a possible trade spat with the US.

Among those concerned is David Levasseur, a third-generation wine grower and owner of a Champagne house in France’s eponymous region.

“It means I’m in trouble, big trouble. We hope it’s just, as we say, blah blah,” Levasseur said, standing in his Champagne house as he swilled a flute of his vineyard’s bubbly.

“When someone speaks so loudly,” he said of Trump’s 200 per cent threat, “it’s about the media buzz. But in any case, we think there will be consequences.”

Like other wine sellers and exporters, Levasseur said that a 200 per cent tariff on what he exports to the US would essentially grind to a halt his business in that country.

“It could be a real disaster,” Levasseur said.

Italy, France and Spain are among the top five exporters of wine to the United States. Trump made his threat to Europe’s alcohol industry after the European Union announced a 50 per cent tax on American whiskey expected to take effect on April 1. That duty was unveiled in response to the Trump administration’s tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum.

In France, a 4 billion Euro market

Gabriel Picard, who heads the French Federation of Exporters of Wines and Spirits, said 200 per cent tariffs would be “a hammer blow” for France’s industry, whose wine and spirits exports to the US are worth 4 billion Euros (USD 4.3 billion) annually.

“With 200 per cent duties, there is no more market,” Picard said.

Still, he understood why European leaders responded to Trump’s initial tariffs.

“There’s no debate about that. We agree that Mr Trump creates and likes to create contests of strength. We have to adapt to that,” he said.

For Italy, it’s the wine at high-end restaurants they worry most about losing

In Italy, the wine industry has called for calm, hoping that negotiators in Brussels and Washington can back down from the growing

trade spat.

US tariffs threaten Italy and Spain’s wine exports, with Italy’s sales to the US exceeding 2 billion Euros last year.

Spanish producers, especially Cava makers, fear major losses. Industry leaders warn tariffs could make wines unaffordable and undo years of market growth, urging unity in trade negotiations.